Caught in a political crossfire in the highly charged poll season campaign, Gautam Adani asserts that the charges hurled at him are baseless and are either politically motivated or because of lack of information. Brushing aside charges that he pocketed lucrative land at throwaway prices in Gujarat, Adani told ET in a wide-ranging interview that he has not received any favours and the land, owned by the government, was absolutely barren and unfit for agricultural activity. Edited excerpts:

How is this general election different from previous ones for business houses like Adani Group?

We respect the views and opinions of different political parties. However, in this politically-charged atmosphere, we feel that wild and baseless allegations are either politically motivated or poorly informed and ill-advised. It is disheartening and discouraging to undermine our commitment and contribution towards building infrastructure of national importance.

In the election campaign, it has been alleged that the Modi government gave you land at cheap rates in Mundra. What is your position on this?

Since 1993, we have been developing a port and a special economic zone in a phased manner at Mundra. During this period, different political parties were ruling the state. These governments allotted land during different phases of development after assessing the need and complying with all procedural requirements.

We have not received any concession in land allotment. The said land was owned by the government and was absolutely barren and unfit for agricultural activity. We have never acquired any private agricultural land through the government acquisitions route.

But you were allocated land at throw-away prices, as they say.

It is unfair and completely misleading if one compares the price of the land before and after the development work undertaken at Mundra. We have developed the land during the last 20 years by investing over Rs 50,000 crore to create world-class infrastructure of power, road, rail, shipping and attracting industries and generating massive employment.

How do you justify acquisition of such a large land bank?

The land has been acquired for port and port-based multi-product special economic zone. To ensure that the units in SEZ have a competitive edge in its manufacturing cost, they need to be world-class in size and scale of operation. We have observed that similar port-based SEZs in other parts of world are set up in a fairly large area. The SEZ will also house social infrastructure such as housing, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, utilities like water, electricity and effluent treatment.

Did you get such support for your projects outside Gujarat?

We have invested in power generation in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, for coal mining in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, for power supply and city gas distribution in Haryana and for port-terminal development in Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These investments are in the infrastructure sector. Hence, government policies and support is very critical in implementation and we are working closely with the government. We would like to place it on record that we are getting excellent support from all states irrespective of different ruling parties. This is understandable as this sector is the priority sector for government and is the backbone of the growth for the economy.

Narendra Modi frequently flies in your aircraft. This has become a major issue. What is your response on that?

We have a separate business unit for aviation. The BJP has hired the aircraft from us and is billed for the use.

How are you planning to fund the future projects when raising funds is a major challenge?

Investor confidence in Adani is fairly high and most of our investors are long-term investors. We are one of the few companies who have been able to raise over 11,000-crore equity in the last seven years. We have longstanding relationships with our lenders, too, and they have faith in us.

We have fully met all of our financial commitments and are enjoying a high credit rating. We fund our expansions and new businesses through a judicious mix of debts, internal accruals and fresh equity and are confident that we will be able to meet our needs through internal accruals and debt for our current plans.What differentiates you from other infrastructure players?

Our business model is unique; we have opted for seamless integration of our infrastructure businesses. This model allows us to capture values across the chain, from mines to port to power generation and transmission. It makes us the most competitive producer.